German Company to Develop Solar Plant in Iran

German company SOLARWATT GmbH, one of the pioneers of the solar industry, has plans to start projects in Iran by constructing a 30 megawatt solar power plant.

Speaking to Tasnim, Abolfazl Mousavi Fazel, representative of SOLARWATT, said the company is applying for permission to build the plant as part of the German government’s plans for the promotion of solar industry in Iran.

With economic sanctions against Iran lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), German solar companies are eager to make the most of Iran’s potentially lucrative market.

Back in March, BSW Solar, a Berlin-based industry group, said the German solar firms have a “huge sales” opportunity.

Iran has reinstated 20-year power purchase agreements with Germany and set feed-in-tariffs at “highly profitable” rates of 17 to 30 euros cents ($0.33) per kilowatt-hour, according to a 134-page report by Germany’s Foreign Office.

Businesses have begun to return with commercial ties rising 27 percent to 2.7 billion euros in 2014, Bloomberg has quoted the German Foreign Office as saying.

Germany is Iran’s largest European trade partner.

In May, Power Magazine reported that Germany has begun working closely with Iran to develop renewable energy strategies based on the successes and failures its policymakers have learned from its own Energiewende (energy transition).